2.5 lakh Management seats for CMAT-qualified students lie vacant

Dr GPC Nayar, president of FAMUPEI, who had filed petition in the Delhi HC, says, "When the AICTE made CMAT an exclusive test for admission to the MBA programme across the country, we were afraid that the business schools in India would not get full enrollment".

Around 2.5 lakh Management seats left vacant in the academic session 2013-14, for want of CMAT qualified students.

"A total of 2.3 lakh students enrolled for CMAT in 2012, of which 1.8 lakh were eligible for admission. It is this situation that prompted us to take up the matter with the AICTE chairman. We requested him to convert CMAT as one of the national entrance tests instead of making it an exclusive test. He however, refused our request. Initially, FAMPEI took up the matter of PGDM programme and received a favourable order from the Supreme Court saying that PGDM institutions could take students from any of the national entrance tests. Despite this judgment, the AICTE chairman refused to extend that benefit to MBA institutions. This is why we approached the Delhi High Court to ensure that MBA institutions also have the freedom to admit students from any of the national entrance tests, including CMAT," adds Nayar.

According to Bibek Banerjee, director, IMT, Ghaziabad, CMAT, "The Delhi High Court's move has been welcomed by most B-schools and should also be respected by students. In any case the CMAT was not resolving any of the pending issues pertaining to transparency and rigour in the admission system. CMAT may have substituted the tests of certain institutions that were conducting their own. For these institutions, there may be a small degree of impact."

Ashok Panjwani, dean, graduate programmes at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, says, "A few more institutes will sign up for the CAT now. "